The following instructions assume a clean environment and show how to install PHP 7.x, the Microsoft ODBC driver, Apache, and the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server on Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, and 18.10, RedHat 7, Debian 8 and 9, Suse 12 and 15, and macOS 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14. These instructions advise installing the drivers using PECL, but you can also download the prebuilt binaries from the [Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server](https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/releases) Github project page and install them following the instructions in [Loading the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/php/loading-the-php-sql-driver). For an explanation of extension loading and why we do not add the extensions to php.ini, see the section on [loading the drivers](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/php/loading-the-php-sql-driver##loading-the-driver-at-php-startup).
These instructions install PHP 7.3 by default. Note that some supported Linux distros default to PHP 7.0 or earlier, which is not supported for the PHP drivers for SQL Server -- please see the notes at the beginning of each section to install PHP 7.1 or 7.2 instead.
Install the ODBC driver for Ubuntu by following the instructions on the [Linux and macOS installation page](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server).
Install the ODBC driver for Red Hat 7 by following the instructions on the [Linux and macOS installation page](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server).
An issue in PECL may prevent correct installation of the latest version of the drivers even if you have upgraded GCC. To install, download the packages and compile manually (similar steps for pdo_sqlsrv):
You can alternatively download the prebuilt binaries from the [Github project page](https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/releases), or install from the Remi repo:
Install the ODBC driver for Debian by following the instructions on the [Linux and macOS installation page](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server).
You may also need to generate the correct locale to get PHP output to display correctly in a browser. For example, for the en_US UTF-8 locale, run the following commands:
```
sudo su
sed -i 's/# en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/g' /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
```
### Step 3. Install the PHP drivers for Microsoft SQL Server
> In the following instructions, replace <SuseVersion> with your version of Suse - if you are using Suse Enterprise Linux 15, it will be SLE_15 or SLE_15_SP1, and similarly for other versions. Not all versions of PHP are available for all versions of Suse Linux - please refer to `http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/php` to see which versions of Suse have the default version PHP available, or to `http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/php:/` to see which other versions of PHP are available for which versions of Suse.
> [!NOTE]
> Packages for PHP 7.3 are not available for Suse 12.
> To install PHP 7.1, replace the repository URL below with the following URL:
Install the ODBC driver for Suse by following the instructions on the [Linux and macOS installation page](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server).
> If you get an error message saying `Connection to 'pecl.php.net:443' failed: Unable to find the socket transport "ssl"`, edit the pecl script at /usr/bin/pecl and remove the `-n` switch in the last line. This switch prevents PECL from loading ini files when PHP is called, which prevents the OpenSSL extension from loading.
PHP should now be in your path -- run `php -v` to verify that you are running the correct version of PHP. If PHP is not in your path or it is not the correct version, run the following:
Install the ODBC driver for macOS by following the instructions on the [Linux and macOS installation page](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server).
### Step 5. Restart Apache and test the sample script
```
sudo apachectl restart
```
To test your installation, see [Testing your installation](#testing-your-installation) at the end of this document.
## Testing Your Installation
To test this sample script, create a file called testsql.php in your system's document root. This is `/var/www/html/` on Ubuntu, Debian, and Redhat, `/srv/www/htdocs` on SUSE, or `/usr/local/var/www` on macOS. Copy the following script to it, replacing the server, database, username, and password as appropriate.
Point your browser to https://localhost/testsql.php (https://localhost:8080/testsql.php on macOS). You should now be able to connect to your SQL Server/Azure SQL database.